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College View

College View

Summary

The evolution of College View was the latest phase of development in Southeast Dur- ham prior to 1940. This neighborhood, extend- ing south from the vicinity of Lawson St., began to take shape after the adjacent National Religious Training School became the four-year, state-supported North Carolina College. Originally, College View consisted of the area around the college to the vicinity of Nelson St. The area to the south, known as Pearsontown for the black family who owned much of the land...Read More

Buildings and objects of interest

The evolution of College View was the latest phase of development in Southeast Dur- ham prior to 1940. This neighborhood, extend- ing south from the vicinity of Lawson St., began to take shape after the adjacent National Religious Training School became the four-year, state-supported North Carolina College. Originally, College View consisted of the area around the college to the vicinity of Nelson St. The area to the south, known as Pearsontown for the black family who owned much of the land here, remained rural for many years. Similar to other Durham neighborhoods such as Watts Hospital- Oval Park that experienced a great deal of residential construction in the late 1920s and 1930s, the early section of College View is characterized by ornamented bungalows and quaint period revival style houses. The styles of these houses, built for businessmen and college professors and administrators, range from Spanish Mission to English Cottage to Colonial Revival. Several of the houses are said to have been built by local contractor James Whitted. The prestige of College View, expressed by its fashionable architecture, was enhanced by the cultural opportunities afforded its residents by the neighboring college. Durhamites who grew up here and in the Lincoln Hospital area fondly remember hearing addresses by nationally known figures and the performances of such vocalists as Paul Robeson and Roland Hayes. The Algonquin Tennis Club, Southeast Durham's most popular social and recreation spot of the 1930s and 1940s, was located nearby in the 1400 block of Fayetteville St. The membership of the club, a social subsidiary of the North Carolina Mutual, has been described as "a new aristocracy. . . whose impulse for reform came. . . from a sense of racial duty and noblesse oblige. "